scintilla

\sin-TIL-uh\, noun:
A tiny or scarcely detectable amount; the slightest particle; a trace; a spark.

--Truth be told, Scintilla, we've named you after the amount of love still left in Mommy and Daddy's marriage at the time of your birth. Just be glad you weren't born today. Your name would've been Negative Eight Scintillas.
--Looking back, I can safely say that I have not two scintillas of regret about the life I've led. Maybe three, maybe three thousand, but not two.
--Seeing her again sparked in him an expected scintilla of disgust, but he was not prepared for the flame of revulsion ignited by hearing her speak.
--Joe revisited the basement bathroom of his old dorm and felt old scintillas of past rejections start to rumble inside him. After all, this was the only public toilet he had ever hugged, the only bathroom floor that had ever touched his face.